Blog City

Washington through the lens of photobloggers

From its beginnings, photography has been an art form of the people. Samuel F. B. Morse, Mathew Brady, Erich Salomon and Henri Cartier-Bresson were all one-time amateurs who went on to define photography through their ability to capture reality in its many magical forms. In the latter half of the 20th century, the concept of the "Kodak Moment" became so ingrained in our culture that to be at a graduation or a wedding or on the annual beach trip and not later have pictures to display in the family photo album almost felt tragic.

Photography's history can be traced through the evolution of cameras -- large-view cameras, hand-held box cameras, the Leica, the Polaroid, the Instamatic. Today's photography is ruled by picture phones and pocket-friendly digital cameras, and the pairing of them with the Internet has given us the "photoblog," an online version of the photo album.

Photoblogs provide us with a glimpse of the digital photographers' world -- the parties they attend, the places they work, the neighborhoods they live in, their families and their friends. This new feature, Blog City, will be about all that, too, showing you the best shots from your photo-blogging neighbors.

-- Keith W. Jenkins

Submissions

The Washington Post Magazine is launching a new feature showcasing the work of area photographers: "Blog City." People living in the metropolitan Washington area who regularly post photos to their own photoblog or Flickr site are welcome to submit work for consideration. Guidelines: You can send in three photos per month. They should be at least 300 dpi and 8x10 inches in size. You should include a brief description of each submitted photo. You must send us the URL for your photoblog or Flickr site. If your photo is selected for publication, we will publish the URL of your site. Please e-mail your submissions to blogcity@washpost.com.

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Lucky Carry Out,

10th and U streets NW

by Matthew Bradley

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mjb/

Giraffe, National Zoo

by Matt Billings